All the Klan's men

The trial of Edgar Ray Killen brought some closure to one of the most horrific chapters in Mississippi's - and America's - history. But it did little to help us understand the world from which Killen came.

MISSISSIPPI BURNING. This week, Edgar
Ray Killen (bottom right) was convicted
of manslaughter in the 41-year-old killing
of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman,
James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner
in Neshoba
County, Mississippi. Top right, the burned
station wagon of the three victims, which
was discovered buried in a swamp 44 days
after their disappearance.
(Photos clockwise from left: Nathan Benn/Corbis, AP Photo, Kyle Carter-Pool/Getty Images)
Photos clockwise from left: Nathan Benn/Corbis, AP Photo, Kyle Carter-Pool/Getty Images

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THE FIRST DAY of perhaps the most significant civil rights trial since the 1960s hadn't yet begun, but the national press already had a colorful story. Edgar Ray Killen, charged with the 1964 murder of three civil rights workers near this small eastern Mississippi town, had emerged from a white sedan parked in front of the Neshoba County Courthouse just ...(Full article: 1824 words)